BREAKING: House Intel Committee Ends Trump Russia Collusion Report

Apr 27, 2018

BREAKING: The House Intelligence Committee just released a heavily redacted final report that found no collusion but “poor judgement” by both campaigns. The lead investigator called out the intelligence community for heavy redactions in the report. (Please see the link below for the complete report.) The problem with the report is that the redactions are already publicly available because the information was previously declassified. Republican Mike Conway spoke out on the lack of transparency and the “unnecessary redactions”. Conaway took over the investigation when House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes stepped down in April 2017 after he was accused of making “unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law regulations, or other standards of conduct.”

The House Intelligence Committee on Friday released the final report on its yearlong Russia investigation.

The report stated the committee “found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government.” They did, however, “find poor judgment and ill-considered actions by the Trump and Clinton campaign.”

While the committee posted a copy of the report online, investigation leader Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, complained about the heavy redactions made by the intelligence community.

“I am extremely disappointed with the overzealous redactions made by the IC. Many of the redactions include information that is publicly available, such as witness names and information previously declassified,” he said in a statement. “When we started this investigation, we set out to give the American people the answers to the questions they’ve been asking and we promised to be as transparent as possible in our final report. I don’t believe the information we’re releasing today meets that standard, which is why my team and I will continue to challenge the IC’s many unnecessary redactions with the hopes of releasing more of the report in the coming months.”

The release comes after committee leaders announced key findings last month, prompting a war of words between Republican and Democratic members.

The GOP majority at the time reported finding no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump campaign associates. They also said that based on its investigation, the controversial anti-Trump dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele “formed an essential part of an application” to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain electronic surveillance on Trump adviser Carter Page.

The committee’s investigation was based on four topics: Russian active measures against the 2016 U.S. election, the U.S. government’s response to the attack, links between Russians and the Trump and Clinton campaigns, and purported leaks of classified information.